DuBois, PA — Restaurant owners in Clearfield County said Christmas and New Year's is the busiest time of the year for them but while they had to shutdown for four weeks, they're happy to finally reopen their dining rooms.
"It has really hurt us as an industry as a whole it has hurt for sure. We just keep looking towards the spring and summer but it's been survival mode," said Robin Meholick, Sales Manager of The Hitching Post.
For Robin Meholick, she said New Year's Eve is one of the busiest weekends for The Hitching Post.
But amid the statewide restrictions, they had to make adjustments.
"We did online ordering so before this we were pretty much cash only we have taken credit cards, we've done online ordering which has been great," she said.
Under Governor Wolf's order, starting Monday morning at 8, restaurants were able to resume indoor dining.
A refreshing moment for Meholick and her customers.
"People are really compassionate obviously they're being cautious so it isn't 100% but we were thankful to see the faces of regulars that we've missed for quite a while," she said.
George Moore owner of the Gateway Cafe in DuBois said COVID-19 has taken more than half of their business for the past 10 months.
"This past shutdown definitely hurt over the holiday season especially for our employees," he said.
During the shutdown, Moore said they depended on take out and thankfully he didn't lose any of his employees.
But moving forward, he said he wants a bit more transparency from the government.
"I don't want to put down our government but when they give us less than 24 hours notice to shut down our business after we've already done orders and so forth, I think they can be a little bit more forthcoming and give us a little more notice about what's going to happen in the future" said Moore.
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